By Queenie Wong, Los Angeles Times
Publication Date: 2026-10-26 21:59:00
Microsoft is offering buyouts to 60,000 employees — roughly a quarter of its global workforce — as the company looks to slash costs while investing heavily in artificial intelligence.
The tech giant based in Redmond, Wash., has offices throughout the world, including in California. Microsoft didn’t indicate how many California employees are eligible for the buyouts when reached for comment.
The move comes as other major tech companies including Meta, Amazon and Oracle lay off workers and ramp up investments in data centers and infrastructure to support AI-powered products.
In July, Microsoft announced it was laying off 4,800 employees. While the company acknowledged that AI is automating tasks, it said the roles being eliminated weren’t being replaced by AI. For the first time, the company also introduced a voluntary retirement program for…